Cult Pens (Uk) 10% Off On Uk Brands

[MBDostoevsky]

Looks like Cult Pens has a 10% off on British Brands for both local and overseas customers. Discount might help in offsetting the shipping costs for international customers.

 

https://www.cultpens.com/c/q/special-offers/round-the-world-sale-uk-brands

 

(Disclaimer: No Affiliation or Responsibility, Just a FYI Post)

[MoriartyR]

Funny. I looked on their site and they don’t seem to stock any British brands. Just Diamine inks and a few other accessories, but none of the British pen brands.

[ParramattaPaul]

Funny. I looked on their site and they don’t seem to stock any British brands. Just Diamine inks and a few other accessories, but none of the British pen brands.

Manuscript pens are made in the UK. I have an M1856. It's a nice pen. I've also bought Manuscripts (the less dear, everyday pens) for my two grandsons for school. They -- the pens, not the boys -- write well. Helix pens are a UK brand but made in China. They are inexpensive metal pens with decent nibs. I have no clue about the Parkers they have on sale since I haven't bought a Parker Pen in probably 30 years.

 

Then of course, Derwent is a UK brand, but not a fountain pen.

Edited August 14, 2020 by ParramattaPaul

[MBDostoevsky]

I think the sale is more on general stationery items than any speciality pens... for Diamine and Manuscript users it can be of some interest.

[A Smug Dill]

I'm not sure what you mean by "specialty pens"; but the current sale certain includes quite a number of Parker fountain pen models, and as I understand it, Parker offers free-of-charge nib exchange for new pens bought from its authorised dealers, so even if one can't order a Parker Sonnet with an Extra Fine from Cult Pens, he/she should be able to get the pen from Cult Pens with a Fine or Medium nib, then arrange with Parker directly to send the pen in and have the nib exchanged.

 

Cult Pens also has an own-branded (or 'collab') mini fountain pen made by Kaweco, and that is included in this sale. Does that count as specialty?

 

Then, of course, Manuscript sells many models of (both dip and fountain) pens that are marketed specifically as being for calligraphy and/or lettering. In the context of this forum, I suppose they're specialty pens compared to fountain pens with common round Medium nibs.

 

Anyway, a further 10% off the discounted prices of Diamine inks makes the offer too good to overlook, so I just ordered 35 bottles yesterday in a single lot. Trying not to trigger the shipping-by-DHL-only condition (nominally, if the total weight exceeds 2kg) while still making the free international shipping threshold with inks only (with a single exception of a converter I needed) was a challenge while doing so. Everything else I had in mind can wait until the next 10%- or 15%-off site-wide discount campaign comes along.

[MBDostoevsky]

I'm not sure what you mean by "specialty pens";

 

Oh... I meant Sailor, Pilot, Platinum, Pelikan pens.... probably i used the wrong term....

 

Anyway, a further 10% off the discounted prices of Diamine inks makes the offer too good to overlook, so I just ordered 35 bottles yesterday in a single lot. Trying not to trigger the shipping-by-DHL-only condition (nominally, if the total weight exceeds 2kg) while still making the free international shipping threshold with inks only (with a single exception of a converter I needed) was a challenge while doing so. Everything else I had in mind can wait until the next 10%- or 15%-off site-wide discount campaign comes along.

 

Wow... 35 Bottles ! That is a lot...

 

Their international shipping is one big challenge... I have to try various combinations to avoid being charged a hefty International Courier Delivery.... and on top of that 70% customs and on top of that 10-15% handling fee....

 

So for me, i ended up ordering 6 x 80 ml bottles and 10 x 30 ml bottles and kept safe within their 10 GBP Shipping fee via Royal Mail International Signed!...

[A Smug Dill]

Oh... I meant Sailor, Pilot, Platinum, Pelikan pens.... probably i used the wrong term....

Discounts were offered on those in the earlier 'stages' of its still-ongoing 'Round the World' 2020 Summer sale campaign. I bought a Platinum #3776 Century (in Bourgogne resin with gold trim) with UEF nib from Cult Pens when special offers for Japanese brands were on.

 

Wow... 35 Bottles ! That is a lot…

Most of those are 30ml bottles. At the effective price of £1.58 (after shipping to Australia and tax-not-collected has been taken into account) for a bottle of Diamine Monboddo's Hat, that's what I'd expect to pay (before shipping) if I were to order an ink sample from an Australian online seller even if the colour I wanted was on offer.

 

There is, however, a 100ml bottle of Diamine Registrar's iron-gall blue-black ink on my order.

 

Their international shipping is one big challenge... I have to try various combinations to avoid being charged a hefty International Courier Delivery....

Yeah, I had to change my strategy, and avoid glass bottles — including the 80ml bottles of Diamine ink, which are more 'economical' than the 30ml bottles of the same inks on a per-millilitre basis, but not if I end up with hefty international shipping charges on the order — and forgo a couple of items I'd rather be getting. Each product's unit weight is probably specified to the gram, but there appears to be a little bit of inconsistency; some combinations of 35 bottles would trigger the higher charge, yet other combinations with the same number of each type of bottle ink wouldn't.

 

As a rule of thumb, one glass (50ml Waterman or 80ml Diamine) bottle is equivalent to about four 30ml Diamine bottles in Cult Pens' pre-programmed weight calculations. The challenge for me was to get enough 30ml bottles to make the £70 free international shipping threshold, given how cheap those bottles are. Thirty 30ml bottles at £1.58 each would only come to £47.40, but the calculated total weight (which I as the customer can't see) would already be awfully close to the 2kg limit for Royal Mail shipping.

 

I did find one combination (including some other things that I wanted, and some that I could do without but could at least think of a plausible use of them) that brought the total value of the order to £70.29 including free international shipping by Royal Mail; but in the end I decided to spend a little more, once the intellectual challenge has been satisfied.

[MBDostoevsky]

I did find one combination (including some other things that I wanted, and some that I could do without but could at least think of a plausible use of them) that brought the total value of the order to £70.29 including free international shipping by Royal Mail; but in the end I decided to spend a little more, once the intellectual challenge has been satisfied.

 

Pretty decent strategy to arrive at the Nash equilibrium...

 

plastic bottles are a bit lighter than their glass counterparts.... some inks i need to have in 80ml as opposed to 30ml... plus the cost of reordering and the ensuing wait for it to arrive outweighs the savings that i seek....

 

I hope they reach you safely!

[A Smug Dill]

some inks i need to have in 80ml as opposed to 30ml... plus the cost of reordering

But that's the thing: it's not that you need to have the particular ink "in 80ml", unless it's about the glass bottle and not the ink. If you spend the money to buy three 30ml bottles of the same ink, then you'll have the requisite 80ml (and more) of that ink all arriving at once, just that you end up spending more all up for it and paying more per millilitre. I was quite prepared to buy 90ml of what I'd like to have more than 80ml of on hand; it's just that, on review of what I already have and what I consumed (or didn't consume) over the past 1824 months, I thought I might get more utility by buying thirty 30ml bottles in all different ink colours, instead of stocking up on particular colours all at once, when the difference between doing it now and buying more later is 9% of crud-all per 30ml bottle. 10%-off site-wide discounts, or 10%-off Diamine brand-specific discounts, are offered several times a year anyway; it's getting 19% off the list price that is a little more difficult.

 

(Out of the 35 bottles, I did get five that are repeats of ink colours that I'm nowhere near having depleted the only bottles I already have. The only Diamine ink colour that I've "consumed" more than 25% of what I had ever bought, mainly through giving away samples, is one that Cult Pens doesn't sell.)

 

The upside of placing this order with Cult Pens is that I'm no longer considering placing an order for inks with Pen Gallery (that I was itching to do) for double the total spend.

 

I hope they reach you safely!

 

Thanks. I never had a problem with any bottled ink I ordered from Cult Pens (or Fontoplumo in the Netherlands) in years past. Can't say the same about Amazon, although invariably it is quick to offer me a full refund of any bottle damaged in transit (but I may not be able to reorder at the original price). Edited August 17, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[MBDostoevsky]

But that's the thing: it's not that you need to have the particular ink "in 80ml", unless it's about the glass bottle and not the ink. If you spend the money to buy three 30ml bottles of the same ink, then you'll have the requisite 80ml (and more) of that ink all arriving at once, just that you end up spending more all up for it and paying more per millilitre.

 

I sincerely wish if Cult Pens could somehow get Diamine to use light weight plastic bottles (250 ml or above) for some of their famous inks. I would probably get a lifetime supply for some of my running colors like Oxblood, Ancient Copper, Grapes, Sherwood Green and Midnight Blue.

 

Ideally ink pouches (for larger capacities) would be even lighter but I am not sure how would they behave on international shipping. Not every country handles the packages safely. My recent order from Cult Pens was opened bottle by bottle by the customs. With an ink pouch, once the seal breaks (by customs) it will always run the risk of ink being spilled again. A risk which is somewhat reduced by plastic and glass bottle caps.

[A Smug Dill]

I sincerely wish if Cult Pens could somehow get Diamine to use light weight plastic bottles (250 ml or above) for some of their famous inks. I would probably get a lifetime supply for some of my running colors like Oxblood, Ancient Copper, Grapes, Sherwood Green and Midnight Blue.

 

Other than for paying a mere 5.6% more on a per-millitre basis, I much prefer the 30ml plastic bottles to the 80ml glass bottles; the former are lighter to transport, less likely to break in transit, better for keeping unused portions of my hoard from exposure to air through repeating fillings and ink testing exercises, easier for the purposes of giving away to friends, and more space-efficient for me to store in shallow rectangular trays and/or boxes. So, without imagining any price advantage would be gained if Diamine inks were available in 250ml plastic bottles — which would be impossible to fill directly from anyway, except for maybe the first few uses, but necessitating the use of either a separate inkwell when filling or a small 'interim' bottle — I don't think I'd go for the 250ml bottle over buying eight or nine 30ml bottles of the same ink if such total volume is required. It'd cost me about £0.53 to buy a 35ml clear bottle (sold in 3-packs) with a round footprint from Daiso, so I'm more than happy to pay £1.58 all up for a 30ml bottle of Diamine ink that comes in a properly labelled¹, opaque (thus offering better defence against fading due exposure to ambient light)² square (thus more space-efficient in storage)³ plastic bottles, in spite of the consideration of paying 5.6% more for the ink content effectively.

 

My recent order from Cult Pens was opened bottle by bottle by the customs.

Interesting. I have well over 300 bottles of ink — most of which I imported directly from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, China and USA, and less than 10% were acquired locally — and I don't think any bottle has ever been opened by Australian Customs for inspection. One or two that were gift-wrapped in opaque luxury wrapping paper, as La Couronne du Comte is wont to do even when the customer has not asked for gift-wrapping or stated that the item is a gift, were opened up to the retail box level and then resealed. I think I've received more cracked-/broken-/leaked-in-transitbottles of ink than I have opened-for-inspection ones.

 

Some retailers that offer free international shipping (past some arbitrary threshold for the value of an order) don't have any weight limits set. I almost pity them (but not enough to completely deter me) when I go crazy ordering inks that are only available in glass bottles.

[Inkysloth]

 

I sincerely wish if Cult Pens could somehow get Diamine to use light weight plastic bottles (250 ml or above) for some of their famous inks. I would probably get a lifetime supply for some of my running colors like Oxblood, Ancient Copper, Grapes, Sherwood Green and Midnight Blue.

 

Not 250 ml, but The Writing Desk sell a small selection of Diamine inks under The Writing Desk branding in 100ml plastic bottles for £5.99:

 

https://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink-refills/fountain-pen-bottled-ink/#/manufacturer-the_writing_desk

 

[MBDostoevsky]

 

Other than for paying a mere 5.6% more on a per-millitre basis, I much prefer the 30ml plastic bottles to the 80ml glass bottles; the former are lighter to transport, less likely to break in transit, better for keeping unused portions of my hoard from exposure to air through repeating fillings and ink testing exercises, easier for the purposes of giving away to friends, and more space-efficient for me to store in shallow rectangular trays and/or boxes. So, without imagining any price advantage would be gained if Diamine inks were available in 250ml plastic bottles — which would be impossible to fill directly from anyway, except for maybe the first few uses, but necessitating the use of either a separate inkwell when filling or a small 'interim' bottle — I don't think I'd go for the 250ml bottle over buying eight or nine 30ml bottles of the same ink if such total volume is required. It'd cost me about £0.53 to buy a 35ml clear bottle (sold in 3-packs) with a round footprint from Daiso, so I'm more than happy to pay £1.58 all up for a 30ml bottle of Diamine ink that comes in a properly labelled¹, opaque (thus offering better defence against fading due exposure to ambient light)² square (thus more space-efficient in storage)³ plastic bottles, in spite of the consideration of paying 5.6% more for the ink content effectively.

 

Interesting. I have well over 300 bottles of ink — most of which I imported directly from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, China and USA, and less than 10% were acquired locally — and I don't think any bottle has ever been opened by Australian Customs for inspection. One or two that were gift-wrapped in opaque luxury wrapping paper, as La Couronne du Comte is wont to do even when the customer has not asked for gift-wrapping or stated that the item is a gift, were opened up to the retail box level and then resealed. I think I've received more cracked-/broken-/leaked-in-transitbottles of ink than I have opened-for-inspection ones.

 

Some retailers that offer free international shipping (past some arbitrary threshold for the value of an order) don't have any weight limits set. I almost pity them (but not enough to completely deter me) when I go crazy ordering inks that are only available in glass bottles.

 

But don't you find the 30 ml plastic bottles a bit difficult to handle for large-sized pens particularly piston fillers.

My largest ever ink order was 16 bottles of ink. So I can never go as crazy as you.. They will indeed serve me for a year at least!

 

 

Not 250 ml, but The Writing Desk sell a small selection of Diamine inks under The Writing Desk branding in 100ml plastic bottles for £5.99:

 

https://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink-refills/fountain-pen-bottled-ink/#/manufacturer-the_writing_desk

 

 

Thank You... it is interesting to see 100ml bottles for not bad a price...

[A Smug Dill]

Oh... I meant Sailor, Pilot, Platinum, Pelikan pens.... probably i used the wrong term....

 

You can now get 10% discount on Platinum, Pelikan and Diamine products all at once.

 

Stack another 10%-off site-wide discount code, and get effectively 19% off Cult Pens's already good regular prices on those products.

[Jarod]

I bought a Platinum #3776 Century (in Bourgogne resin with gold trim) with UEF nib from Cult Pens when special offers for Japanese brands were on.

 

 

 

What ink did - or will you - put in it? I have trouble finding nicely flowing inks, offering good nib coating, for such thin nibs.

[A Smug Dill]

What ink did - or will you - put in it? I have trouble finding nicely flowing inks, offering good nib coating, for such thin nibs.

 

 

Most likely Platinum Carbon Black because of its almost perfect waterproofness. My main applications that require, or benefit from, such fine lines in writing or drawing are when I fill in customs declaration forms (stickers) for sending pens and ink samples in international letter post, writing my return mailing address in a 6mm strip of real estate on the envelope (right above the customs declaration sticker), writing on strips of filter paper or drawing/annotating on ink swatch cards, etc. Sailor souboku and seiboku are alternatives, but probably not kiwaguro. Or I might try putting Diamine Jalur Gemilang in it, and see if words written thus will still exhibit sheen.

[adamselene]

I'm not sure what you mean by "specialty pens"; but the current sale certain includes quite a number of Parker fountain pen models, and as I understand it, Parker offers free-of-charge nib exchange for new pens bought from its authorised dealers, so even if one can't order a Parker Sonnet with an Extra Fine from Cult Pens, he/she should be able to get the pen from Cult Pens with a Fine or Medium nib, then arrange with Parker directly to send the pen in and have the nib exchanged.

 

Cult Pens also has an own-branded (or 'collab') mini fountain pen made by Kaweco, and that is included in this sale. Does that count as specialty?

 

Then, of course, Manuscript sells many models of (both dip and fountain) pens that are marketed specifically as being for calligraphy and/or lettering. In the context of this forum, I suppose they're specialty pens compared to fountain pens with common round Medium nibs.

 

Anyway, a further 10% off the discounted prices of Diamine inks makes the offer too good to overlook, so I just ordered 35 bottles yesterday in a single lot. Trying not to trigger the shipping-by-DHL-only condition (nominally, if the total weight exceeds 2kg) while still making the free international shipping threshold with inks only (with a single exception of a converter I needed) was a challenge while doing so. Everything else I had in mind can wait until the next 10%- or 15%-off site-wide discount campaign comes along.

 

i spent way too long last night trying to order ink without triggering DHL. Two 80 ml DIAMINE triggers.

 

I could order 7 plastic 30 ml, but didn’t meet payment threshold for shipping.

 

HOW DID YOU DO IT?

 

 

I can get all the ink I want with free DHL xhippong if I buy a 3776, but is DHL a problem?

[MBDostoevsky]

I can get all the ink I want with free DHL xhippong if I buy a 3776, but is DHL a problem?

 

For me it was surely a problem... custom duty, handling charges and tax on handling charges were to be paid to DHL....

 

Not sure what would happen in your case....

[A Smug Dill]

i spent way too long last night trying to order ink without triggering DHL. Two 80 ml DIAMINE triggers.

 

Is that so? I went just now and added nine 80ml bottles of Diamine inks to an empty shopping basket, and that did not cause Royal Mail Intl Tracked to disappear as a shipping option, whether I chose Australia or United States as the delivery destination. It took a tenth bottle in the basket to make that happen.

 

Of course, if you only pick the cheapest Diamine inks (as opposed to the Cult Pen Iridescinks, Blue Edition inks, Music or Flower set 30ml refills, etc.) then nine large bottles -- or its loose equivalent for the purposes of weight calculation, 36 small bottles -- aren't going to get the value of your order up to the free international shipping threshold.

[Jarod]

Is that so? I went just now and added nine 80ml bottles of Diamine inks to an empty shopping basket, and that did not cause Royal Mail Intl Tracked to disappear as a shipping option, whether I chose Australia or United States as the delivery destination. It took a tenth bottle in the basket to make that happen.

 

Of course, if you only pick the cheapest Diamine inks (as opposed to the Cult Pen Iridescinks, Blue Edition inks, Music or Flower set 30ml refills, etc.) then nine large bottles -- or its loose equivalent for the purposes of weight calculation, 36 small bottles -- aren't going to get the value of your order up to the free international shipping threshold.

 

I did the same thing, but I can't put 9 x 80ml if Pakistan is the delivery destination, only 8. Then I added 6 2-packs of Monteverde Soft Roll P13 to reach £71.38 for free Royal Mail International signed shipping. I can only put 8 for Canada as well.